ROBERTS LIFTS CAL TO WIN OVER ARIZONA

By NANCY GAY
Mercury News Staff Writer
TUCSON, Ariz. -- Here is how you wake up the hibernating Cal Bears:

Brand them underdogs. Ship them off to the most formidable, hostile arena
available. And appoint an unlikely hero to turn everything inside out.

Then switch on the television cameras. They will surprise you every time.

Cal schlepped into No. 9 Arizona's rowdy McKale Center on Sunday afternoon
lugging a three-game losing streak and walked away -- literally -- with a
breath-stealing 74-72 last-seconds upset of the Wildcats before a sellout
crowd of 14,257 and a national television audience.

''This was not a fluke for Cal,'' said Arizona Coach Lute Olson, whose team
(18-5, 8-3) fell into a tie for second place in the Pacific 10 Conference, a
game behind UCLA. ''This league is tough. It's tough at home, it's tough on
the road.''

Except for Cal (12-8, 4-7), which seems to play its best ball away from
Harmon Gym. This is the same team that shocked then-No. 4 UCLA 100-93 on Jan.
28.

''The coach told us after the UCLA win, 'You guys play better on the road,'
'' said freshman forward Tremaine Fowlkes, who finished with 13 points and
eight rebounds. ''So hey -- why not beat Arizona on the road?''

Forget the fact that Cal rebounded from a 14-9 deficit to take a 41-32
halftime lead, which it extended to a 17-point advantage three times early in
the second half.

With 13.9 seconds remaining, the score tied at 72 and Cal in possession,
reserve guard K.J. Roberts got an unexpected call to challenge one of the
country's most feared point guards, Wildcats senior Damon Stoudamire.

By then, freshman guard Jelani Gardner was winded from keeping up with
Stoudamire. ''I thought (Roberts) would be a good matchup against
Stoudamire,'' Cal Coach Todd Bozeman said, ''because I thought Stoudamire's
quickness was getting to Jelani a little bit.''

Roberts got the green light to penetrate. At the top left corner of the key,
''I crossed over one time, -- I had him on his heels a little bit,'' Roberts
recalled, ''and just kept going with the ball.''

He made his running 10-foot jumper in the paint with 1.6 seconds remaining,
his only points of the game.

''It's the only shot he hit all day,'' said an angry Stoudamire, who was held
to 15 points by Cal's pressure defense. ''He just drove the lane, and that's
a tough situation for me because you can't foul him -- you can't even touch
him.''

On the Wildcats' desperation inbounds lob, Reggie Geary's full-court throw
was intercepted by Cal guard Monty Buckley, who ran to midcourt holding the
ball aloft.

Victory? Not so fast -- six-tenths of a second still remained. Traveling was
assessed, and the Wildcats got a full second on the clock to try again. But
this time, they would run out of luck.

''That was pretty close,'' Bozeman said. ''And to put a whole second back on
the clock . . . there's something there. But we were fortunate enough to come
away with the victory.''

What were the Bears thinking?
''Nothing -- that we just had to play (defense),'' Bozeman said, ''because
they still had to catch it and put it up.''

To appreciate the Bears' second road victory this season over a ranked Pac-10
opponent, consider the lousy effort that preceded it -- a 100-81 loss at No.
14 Arizona State on Thursday. So it's no wonder Cal has acquired the
reputation as a flaky young team.

''Take a look at their road record,'' said Olson, noting that the Bears also
knocked off then-No. 23 Cincinnati earlier this season. ''Our primary
preparation for this one was the UCLA game and the ASU game this week -- to
see how different they can be.''

Believe it. Cal, no longer ranked, appreciated or respected by many Pac-10
followers, may have lost six of its previous nine games before its final
clash this season with Arizona. But the Bears had history on their side.

Last season in Tucson, they did the same thing, knocking off favored Arizona
98-93 in overtime. But Bozeman has no explanation why the Bears have been so
potent on the road this season.

''If I knew that,'' he said, ''I'd take it out of the can and sprinkle it all
over the guys and keep it that way. We're searching for consistency, and we
talk about it all the time. When you're a young ballclub, sometimes that
happens.''